Things to share from my business journey

Controlling Your Agenda

We’ve all been to meetings that run over time and veer off track. Sometimes it’s unavoidable but you can dramatically influence this by effectively managing and controlling the agenda. Here are a few tips to assist.

Agenda Preparation

When you’re creating the agenda leave some time at the start to run through any action items from the previous meeting, if relevant. For each new item, allocate sufficient time for discussion plus extra at the end for any additional topics that are raised. List who is responsible for each item, and then distribute the agenda prior to the meeting to help others assess what will be discussed and come prepared accordingly. It can also be a good idea to take extra copies of the agenda to the meeting for any unplanned attendees.

Sticking To The Agenda

On opening the meeting, it can often be helpful to remind everyone of the size of the agenda if it is quite large. Keep your eye on the time for each item throughout – any extra minutes spent on each topic can really add up. Make a note of decisions or action items so you can add them to the minutes or the next meeting’s agenda. If items come up for discussion which are not listed, park them for the end or for another meeting. When topics are raised that become less relevant to the majority of the attendees you could politely suggest that it gets taken “off line”.

So Far So Good

You’ve managed to stay on topic and on time for your meeting – congratulations! To help encourage your next meeting to run just as smoothly, take the time to summarise any actions required and by whom. When you create your next agenda, add these items at the top to discuss at the next meeting to see just how much your meeting achieved!

No one appreciates a meeting that runs for too long or off topic. By keeping control of the agenda prior to the meeting right through to the end, you can really help your meeting to run on time and on track – and everyone will appreciate your efforts.